Android 4.4 quietly moved the entire home interface into a souped-up search app.

One of the headline features of Android 4.4 is a revamped home screen and app launcher. The icons are bigger, there is more transparency, and the app drawer makes better use of the screen real estate. It's also heavily integrated with Google Search and Google Now, although you might not see it at the surface level. Sure, there's the usual search bar widget and a swipe to the left will open the full Google Search app, but the integration goes much deeper than that. While developing KitKat, Google made a very interesting decision: rather than graft a few new search UI pieces onto the home screen, Google threw the existing home app in the trash and turned all home screen functionality over to the Google Search app.

Everything you see here is being drawn by Google Search.

That's right, Google Search isn't just integrated into the home screen, it is the home screen. Everything you see on the home screen—the wallpaper, the icons, the widgets, and the app drawer—are all drawn by the Google Search app. "GoogleHome.apk" still exists, but it is an empty shell that forwards everything to the search app.

If you need proof of this, the picture below shows the layout files for the Android 4.3 launcher and the 4.4 Google Search app. Layout files do exactly what you think they do: they determine what goes where in an Android app. As the image shows, the layout files from the 4.3 launcher have all migrated over to the Google Search app. All the necessary assets and image files have made the jump, too. I would show the GoogleHome.apk layout files for comparison, but there aren't any. The launcher has been gutted and is now just a helper app that registers Google Search as the home screen. In fact, if you install GoogleHome.apk without the 4.4 Search app, it won't work at all. It just displays a message saying it requires the Google Search app to function.

Google has adopted the Facebook Home strategy. Facebook took its normal Android app and grafted an app launcher onto it—it replaced the Android home screen with something that revolved around Facebook. The wallpaper became images and status updates from your friends, and Facebook notifications were given top billing. Everything was designed to get you to use Facebook as much as possible. With KitKat, Google is working toward a similar idea. Google took its search app and gave it wallpapers, a home screen, and an app drawer, and now it's the first thing you see when you unlock a Nexus 5.

If Google just wanted to include a few new search pieces into the existing standalone home app, it could have easily done that. The search bar has traditionally been a widget, and there is even a widget that displays Google Now information. Both of those could have been expanded and made more configurable with a few tweaks to Android's widget framework, but instead of doing that, Google chose to make its Search app the primary interface. While Facebook certainly went further down the integration road than Google, the two companies are now clearly headed down the same path. Google Now cards are currently relegated to the left-most home screen, but it's not hard to imagine a future where particularly relevant cards start popping up on the main screen. After all, since Google Search is the home screen, Google Now cards are constantly in memory.

And yes, for those wondering, this means Google Home (more accurately, Google Search Home) will be in the Play Store. Google Home is the Google Search app, which is already in the Play Store, it's just an old version. Soon, you'll hit the update button and have 99 percent of the code for Google Home. Google Home doesn't even require KitKat; I've got it running on my Jelly Bean-equipped Nexus 4 right now.

Google App Indexing.

This isn't the only in-road Google Search has made into KitKat, either. The dialer and incoming call screen now automatically perform Google searches for phone number information (and will display Google Ads), and Google has just launched "App Indexing," a way to directly open a search result in the appropriate app from Google Search.

[Update: Google has gotten in touch with us, and they say they are not working on ads in the Dialer.]

If Google was going to stop here, there is no way it would need to merge Google Search and the Launcher into a single app. Android has begun a slow, gradual transformation into a Google Now device. Just like Facebook, Google wants to change the way you use your phone from an app-centric device to a device that revolves around its core product, but unlike Facebook, Google has the install base and clout with OEMs to make it happen. Remember, if OEMs want to ship any Google Apps, they need to ship all the Google apps, so Google Home will most likely be included on every Android device. It won't necessarily be enabled by default on something like a Samsung device, but that's nothing some light badgering in the Search app won't fix ("For a better search experience, enable Google Home!"). Expect to see much more Google Now integration in the future.

I can tolerate ads when I look through a facebook news feed, or alongside my search results... but I am growing quite unhappy with having the core functionality (receiving phone calls) being infested with a monetization technique. Could I please utilize the device I paid several hundred dollars for without ads, in a very basic/core sense?

Ads are one of those things that make me hate watching primetime TV shows, what makes Google think that people like me will like it on their phone launcher? If there was a way for me to pay Google to get rid of it, I'd be happy to, but there's no such option. Instead they seem content to keep reaching into privacy until eventually they've mined all valuable personal data about me and sold that to advertisers. Which might not seem like a big deal in comparison to the NSA spying, but still, I'd rather them not harvest everything there is to know about me on my phone.

Ads are one of those things that make me hate watching primetime TV shows, what makes Google think that people like me will like it on their phone launcher? If there was a way for me to pay Google to get rid of it, I'd be happy to, but there's no such option. Instead they seem content to keep reaching into privacy until eventually they've mined all valuable personal data about me and sold that to advertisers. Which might not seem like a big deal in comparison to the NSA spying, but still, I'd rather them not harvest everything there is to know about me on my phone.

There are plenty of phones that allow you to do that. The iPhone being one. Google has a different business model where they pay for the costs of the OS and make up the R&D via ads. You don't like that business model then Google is the wrong company to buy an OS from.

It irritates me that, while in Android, you can replace just about anything with an app of your choice, there is no way I've found yet to replace Google as the search engine. I'd much, MUCH rather use DuckDuckGo. DuckDuckGo does make an Android app, but it doesn't hook into the search functionality the way that many other processes are able to do with OS-default stuff.

You're surprised Google is in this business to make money? I'm always taken aback by comments like these. I think all my software should be free and ad free forever!

Hmmmm .... you pay money for a phone, its not free. Now you are going to get ads with it as well. If Google want to provide ads with everything maybe the phone should be free? They will after all reap a profit from all of the information they collect from you.

That said this isn't a surprise. Android is Google's play to stay relevant in a post-PC world. They aren't in it to provide an open alternative to Apple because Android is as open as Apple's OS X (the core is open, the app layer less so).

Personally, I'd rather pay for things than have them app supported. I object to getting ads regardless.

Here's the state of the mobile market: Get an Android, Google owns your privacy in all areas of your life.Get an iPhone, it's Apples way or no way--the walled garden extreme.Get a Blackberry--suffer from an empty wasteland.Get Windows Phone: The lockdown of Apple plus a lot of Blackberry's empty wasteland.

So what do you value most? Your privacy? Don't get Android. Any privacy at all? Steer clear of Android (and pretty much any other Google service, I would imagine).

Apple has nice tech… at high cost. They probably at least care somewhat about your privacy, as you are their customer, not an advertiser. Microsoft the same.

I can tolerate ads when I look through a facebook news feed, or alongside my search results... but I am growing quite unhappy with having the core functionality (receiving phone calls) being infested with a monetization technique. Could I please utilize the device I paid several hundred dollars for without ads, in a very basic/core sense?

Your reasoning actually makes sense, i do agree. The problem is that the core business of google is Ads. That's the deal, if you want to use Android you must feed their business with your personal information and watch their ads. Adware in all its glory.

My current phone is a Nexus 4 that will certainly be "upgraded" soon. I will definitely not be buying another Google Nexus device. How long until a good alternative to Android (that isn't iOS) becomes popular? My next phone might be a FirefoxOS phone.

You're surprised Google is in this business to make money? I'm always taken aback by comments like these. I think all my software should be free and ad free forever!

Hmmmm .... you pay money for a phone, its not free. Now you are going to get ads with it as well. If Google want to provide ads with everything maybe the phone should be free? They will after all reap a profit from all of the information they collect from you.

That said this isn't a surprise. Android is Google's play to stay relevant in a post-PC world. They aren't in it to provide an open alternative to Apple because Android is as open as Apple's OS X (the core is open, the app layer less so).

Personally, I'd rather pay for things than have them app supported. I object to getting ads regardless.

The OS isn't what you are paying for, it is the hardware.

You pay for your phone, but if you get a phone through Google it is significantly cheaper. For example, and HTC One is ~$600 while a Nexus 5 is ~$350. If you purchase the HTC One Google gets nothing except ad revenue, but you use their OS. If you purchase the Nexus it is much cheaper, with ads used to subsidize the cost of the OS.

It irritates me that, while in Android, you can replace just about anything with an app of your choice, there is no way I've found yet to replace Google as the search engine. I'd much, MUCH rather use DuckDuckGo. DuckDuckGo does make an Android app, but it doesn't hook into the search functionality the way that many other processes are able to do with OS-default stuff.

I don't see why this is a big deal. You can still choose to use your own launcher app if you want. This will noticeably improve things for a lot of people, as I'm certain it will be better than the garbage launchers that come from most OEMs.

So... what's going on with the fully open source variety of Android that doesn't come with the proprietary Google bits and can't talk to the Play store? Does it not have any home screen bundled anymore, or what?

So... what's going on with the fully open source variety of Android that doesn't come with the proprietary Google bits and can't talk to the Play store? Does it not have any home screen bundled anymore, or what?

Android is as open as Apple's OS X (the core is open, the app layer less so).

Silly comparison. Darwin, the open core of OSX doesn't even have a GUI.Android merely has a bunch of proprietary apps. How can you compare that?!

If you take Darwin and you want to actually use it, you can install an X Server and Gnome or KDE. It will then be comparable with a Linux Distribution. You will never be able to run OSX applications natively.If you take AOSP, you already have a complete OS, not only up to the GUI level but also including open applications for SMS, phone etc. You will be instantly able to run real Android apps on it.

The point of moving all of this into the Google Search app is less about search, and more about getting the Launcher processes to be update-able through Google Services.

Think about it: Google can't have the Market update the Launcher, it would break too many things. But, if the Launcher is just a very empty shell that forwards you to the Google Search app, then Google can issue and update it likes.

So... what's going on with the fully open source variety of Android that doesn't come with the proprietary Google bits and can't talk to the Play store? Does it not have any home screen bundled anymore, or what?

Cyanogen mod and most Roms do not come with Google apps installed. Google went after most of them because they were distributing their apps years ago with their roms. They usually come with their own launcher anyway. If you want to run a 3rd party rom (Like I do) you can remove all the Google stuff. I personally use the Google stuff but if you are paranoid that's the route to go.

You're surprised Google is in this business to make money? I'm always taken aback by comments like these. I think all my software should be free and ad free forever!

You're putting words into the GP commenter's mouth. There are many nerds who find Google ads distasteful... hell, any ads distasteful. We find invasive data tracking distasteful. There are choices, like getting a platform that doesn't do that. Those platforms aren't perfect either, but not everyone has the choice of sideloading or jailbreaking so let's keep it real and point out things that people might not want and not read so much into them. Google has the choice to make money the way it wants and we have the choice to take our wallets and eyeballs elsewhere, that's all. Not every critique of any business model is a hyperbolic manifesto on the method of destroying said model for the sake of the survival of humanity.

Ron Amadeo / Ron is the Reviews Editor at Ars Technica, where he specializes in Android OS and Google products. He is always on the hunt for a new gadget and loves to rip things apart to see how they work.